Genesis 19:18 Commentary and Bible Study

But Lot has a way of his own and argues with the Lord. Here is a message as from God. If God tells us to do a thing, it must be possible to do it. Lot does not even believe that God knows what he is doing in giving Lot this instruction. He wants to substitute an alternative place to flee to, one which provides a little bit more of the comfort he has known in the city. ‘Not so, my Lord’, he says. He does not want to go into the mountains. By this time he is so ensnared by the life of the city, that he is desperately looking for another city. Another city in the plane will do, perhaps a smaller city, even a very small one: he spots Zoar, which means a tiny city. If chapels call themselves Zoar – usually Gospel Standard chapels – it is usually a tiny building, because that is what the word means. Lot thinks, ‘I have been delivered, so now maybe I can strike a deal with God. I can have another city as long as it isn’t quite so bad as Sodom.’ The angels let him go to Zoar. Are they guilty of compromise? No, the compromise is Lot’s. This is a practical matter. They are keen to destroy Sodom, and Lot is in the way, so they let him go to that little city of Zoar, and then they destroy Sodom. ‘Haste thee, escape thither.’ The angel tells Lot his commission.